Is WoW just a game? Or is it a hobby?

[Last Starfighter]

Real life is a hobby.

Real life is a hobby for everyone. Nothing is taking you out of it. Not watching a movie, not playing a game, and not even sleeping. You're still right there. In real life. Experiencing it. BIGETY BAM!

[jahasafrat]

For me it's just a game, and not even a game that I've played in recent months.

[Evil Inside]

I just clicked on that blue post where the guy is RAGING about the loot. http://blue.mmo-champion.com/topic/2...rd-ns-hot-fix/
and I chuckled a little bit because I thought to myself "dude its just a game". But then I started thinking about something. When i was younger, I was building a PUZZ 3D(gotta be old school to know what that is) and someone knocked it over, and I raged bad. It was my hobby to build little models. And someone made it THAT MUCH more difficult to achieve what I wanted to achieve. So now im thinking its not a game, its a hobby...Im not set on my decision to re classify it in my mind, so i need to ask you guys..

My new understanding of why its a hobby to me NOW is, i spend money on it, more importantly I spend time on WoW, it sounds like a hobby to me. But I have been wrong before. What do you guys think?

For me it's a bit of both, it depends.

[Chonar]

It's Real Life.

It is just fan-ta-sy. o/`

[Vaelorian]

To me it is currently a hobby but it used to be work-that-I-did-not-get-paid-for. Being a GM taking care of recruits/making a roster/making sure everyone is happy/have fair lootrules/be the joker. It was a lot of work. I think I spend about 8 hours a day on it perhaps more. At my regular job I would still be busy with the guild.

I don't think WoW will ever be "just a game" for me.

[Gilian]

It's just a game. No matter what other people tell you, it is only just a game. And a dangerous game, to that matter.

...?

Sports are also just games or do you call that hobbies when someone spends time on it several times a week?

[Deleted]

I've always felt that a game ends while a hobby never does and by that definition, at least in my case, WoW is definitely a hobby. I've grown bored with it at times -- even came close to cancelling my subscription once or twice -- but at the end of the day the game's sheer size means that, no matter what happens, I'll always find some new and interesting corner to keep me occupied.

I would say this just about nails it.
It makes sense all way round.
WoW is what ever you want it to be.
If you find yourself cancelling and never comming back, then it was just a game to you.
If you keep comming back to it, then you probably should think of it as a hobby. A hobby can be adictive and you are always more forgiving about your hobby than a random game.

[Gimlix]

WoW is an addiction and a world. x)

[Deleted]

A hobby is something you decide to spend your free time on.
Playing videogames is a hobby (unless you do it for a living), wow is a videogame.

[Pull My Finger]

The question isn't if WoW is a game or a hobby - I don't even clearly see the difference. The point is that whatever it is, if you rage about it like that dude on the WoW forums, you're probably an immature dork.

[Deleted]

It used to be a hobby, now it's a game.

Totally disagree - it used to be a game, now it's a hobby. The game part has been totally removed. It's just like a glorified facebook now.

[Deleted]

I was under the impression that games are hobbies.

[The One Percent]

It's a hobby if you make it your hobby. Most high end raiders and pvpers do it as a hobby.

[TJ]

It's both, some people take it more serious than others, though.

[solvexx]

It's real life for a lot of people.
It's 100% more than a hobbie for me.

[Twisted Spirit]

For me WoW is a game but gaming is a hobby.

hob·by1 [hob-ee] Show IPA
noun, plural hob·bies.
1. an activity or interest pursued for pleasure or relaxation and not as a main occupation: "Her hobbies include stamp-collecting and woodcarving."

[Deleted]

Tempted to /thread this but well.

[juzalol]

Playing video games is a hobby.

If you play WoW almost exclusively then you can say playing WoW is your hobby.

[Amerissis]

Depends on your definition of a hobby. Take the one from Dictionary.com:

hob·by
1. an activity or interest pursued for pleasure or relaxation and not as a main occupation

This means, yes, WoW is a hobby, even to those people that claim it's 'just a game'. They play it only for pleasure or relaxation and not as their main occupation, so it's a hobby. A hobby is simply something you do for fun and doesn't have a minimum requirement for money or time spend on it, so everything besides work can be classified as a hobby

[Vaelorian]

Think to a lot of people including myself it is a lifestyle....and not particularly a good one. But there are worse outthere